Map your business dependencies before they become emergencies

List the customers, people, vendors, accounts and systems involved in delivering the work and collecting cash. For each, record what stops if it becomes unavailable. Include knowledge held only by the founder and credentials available only to one person.

For customers, show both revenue share and payment timing. For vendors, identify what data can be exported and what work must be rebuilt elsewhere. Revenue concentration and technical lock-in are different risks; a single score can obscure that distinction.

Choose a dependency with a concrete consequence. Ask another person to perform the task from existing instructions, restore a backup into a separate environment, or export the data needed to move a workflow.

Record what worked, where the test stopped, how long it took and what was missing. Keep tests bounded so they do not interrupt customer service. An untested backup plan is an assumption; a completed exercise gives you evidence about a particular failure.

Compare the cost of reducing the dependency with the likely consequence of losing it. You may decide to document a process, add a recovery option, diversify work, change terms or accept the exposure for now.

Name an owner and a review trigger for each chosen action. Repeat the exercise when an important customer, provider or operating arrangement changes. A founder-dependency assessment can help identify questions, but it does not certify the business as resilient.